"This aggressive stance has been initiated to ensure that, for the first time in the history of our democracy, criminals will be made known and held accountable for their actions publicly," he told reporters on Sunday in Pretoria.
"It also aims to deter others from engaging in corrupt and criminal activities."
The names were made public because of the large amounts of money involved. Other names from the list of over 3 000 convicted individuals would be released later.
On the list are the names and identity numbers of many government employees and private individuals who defrauded departments, institutions and municipalities. Their sentences are also mentioned.
"For the 2012/13 financial year, criminal investigations had been recorded against 242 accused persons in 89 priority cases involving serious corrupt incidents. These involve R5-million or more per incident."
Forty-two of this group had been convicted and were named. In that period 152 officials of the government's justice, crime prevention and security cluster departments were convicted of corruption.
Blacklist
The list would be posted on the websites of government departments falling under the cluster, and on the Government Communication and Information System's website.
"Through national treasury, companies found guilty of all forms of corruption can be blacklisted," he said.
In one case, a syndicate accessed the Post Bank's computers and stole R42-million. It transferred funds to Post Bank accounts created to commit fraud and theft.
Boy Meshack Thekiso, David Mtsoane, and Teboho Masoleng were sentenced to 25 years, 15 years and 15 years behind bars respectively. The case against a fourth accused, Kabelo Kekana, was postponed to July 22.
In another case, fraudsters gained access to the South African Revenue Service's (Sars) systems in Midrand with the help of a Sars employee and a consultant.
They changed banking details on the system to fraudulently pay tax refunds totalling R77-million into the syndicate members' bank accounts.
Ali Raza Naqvi, Mazhar Raza Syed, Zaheer Seedat, Samuel Thabo Gouwe, Audella Makhubu and Fiza Naqvi were convicted. Three of them were jailed for, in effect, 24 years. The other three were given 10 years, suspended for five years.
Radebe said the frameworks for combating corruption in South Africa were in line with international practices, such as the United Nations Convention against Corruption and the Southern African Development Community protocol against corruption. – Sapa